Welcome to MyFitnessPal!

All of us from the MFP team would like to welcome you to our site! MyFitnessPal members come from a variety of different backgrounds and visit the site from virtually every corner of the world, but we all share a common desire to lead healthier lives. In order to ensure MyFitnessPal remains a fun and friendly place for everyone, we have established the following site guidelines which we ask all of our members to follow.

Moderation and Reporting Posts

MyFitnessPal is moderated by a team of volunteers and a few full-time site administrators. Because we have a small team, it’s impossible for us to read every post on the site, so we rely on our members to help us identify problems. If you see a post that seems to violate our guidelines, you can help us by using the "Report Post" link to let us know. One of our moderators will review the report as soon as possible and handle it accordingly.

Groups

In addition to the Main Forums, MyFitnessPal also offers Groups which contain their own message forums. Group forums are self-moderated. Each group appoints it’s own moderators who are responsible for ensuring the group’s (and MyFitnessPal’s) guidelines are followed. The guidelines below are in two sections: those that apply site-wide, including Groups, and those that apply only to the Main Forums."

MyFitnessPal Site-wide Community Guidelines

1. No Attacks or Insults and No Reciprocation

a) Do not attack, mock, or otherwise insult others. You can respectfully disagree with the message or topic, but you cannot attack the messenger. This includes attacks against the user’s spelling or command of written English, or belittling a user for posting a duplicate topic.

b) If you are attacked by another user, and you reciprocate, you will also be subject to the same consequences. Defending yourself or a friend is not an excuse! Do not take matters into your own hands – instead, use the Report Post link to report an attack and we will be happy to handle the situation for you.

2. No Hi-Jacking, Trolling, or Flame-baiting

Please stay on-topic in an existing thread, and post new threads in the appropriate forum. Taking a thread off-topic is considered hi-jacking. Please either contribute politely and constructively to a topic, or move on without posting. This includes posts that encourage the drama in a topic to escalate, or posts intended to incite an uproar from the community.

3. No Promotion of Unsafe Weight-Loss Techniques or Eating Disorders

a) Posts intended to promote potentially unsafe or controversial weight loss products or procedures, including non-medically prescribed supplements or MLM products will be removed without warning.

b) Profiles, groups, messages, posts, or wall comments that encourage anorexia, bulimia, or very low calorie diets of any kind will be removed, and may be grounds for account deletion. This includes positive references to ana/mia, purging, or self-starving. Our goal is to provide users with the tools to achieve their weight management goals at a steady, sustainable rate. Use of the site to promote, glamorize, or achieve dangerously low levels of eating is not permitted.

c) Photos intended to glamorize extreme thinness will be deleted.

d) Those seeking support in their recovery from eating disorders are welcome at MyFitnessPal. A growing list of support resources can be found in our Eating Disorder Resources page.

4. Show Respect to All Groups and Individuals

No derogatory references to sex, gender, age, weight, body-type, disability, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, or endorsement of violence against any person or group, even if couched in humor, will be permitted. This includes expressing stereotypes about any group or community.

5. No Public Posting of Private Conversations

Do not publicly post an email or private message from any other MyFitnessPal user, moderator or administrator at any time.

6. No Intentionally Hurtful Posts

Topics or posts which are started with the intent to belittle others, either directly named or through enough descriptive commentary to be possibly identified, are prohibited. This includes stalking a poster through the forums, posting about past events gone sour, divulging personal information, or spreading gossip or rumors. At our discretion, any post referring to the behavior or posts of other users of the site will be removed.

7. Do Not Publish Private Contact Information

8. Posts Must Abide By All Legal Statutes

a) Do not post messages that violate federal, state/provincial, or local laws which include, but are not limited to, anything that violates a copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or is bound by NDA (non-disclosure agreement).

b) Posts which promote or encourage illegal activities, including, but not limited to, use of illegal substances, violence against others, and procurement of prescription drugs without a prescription, are prohibited.

c) Images containing hateful or violent imagery, depiction of illegal activities, or copyrighted material are not allowed and will be removed.

9. Do Not Post the Same Topic on Multiple Boards or Groups

Please choose the most appropriate board or group for your post and post it once. Posting the same message to multiple boards or multiple groups is a form of spam. Please note that this is NOT a guideline against inadvertently posting a question another member has asked before. We explicitly allow members to post questions that have been asked previously by other members. If you see a member post a topic that you think has been asked before by another member, please respond politely or simply move on. However, the same member cannot ask the same question or post the same topic more than once.

10. Multiple Accounts Are Not Allowed

Creating an account for the purposes of deceiving other members or to work around a forum suspension is not permitted and will be grounds for a permanent ban from the site.

11. No Airing of Grievances With Moderators

a) Protesting a moderator or admin action is not allowed on the Forums or in Groups. If you have a question or concern about a moderator or admin action, please email one of the moderators or MFP's Community Manager, with your concern and we will investigate the matter promptly.

b) If you have concerns about another poster, or wish to report a guideline violation, the only appropriate venue is to use the Flag > Report Post link or to message a moderator or MFP's Community Manager. You may not air such concerns on the message boards themselves. If you have a general concern that does not involve a specific member, you may post your question in the Feedback or Help forums.

c) Threats made to moderators will not be tolerated, and will result in an immediate ban from the site.

12. No Profane, Vulgar, Sexually Explicit or Illegal Images

All images on the site, including all profile pictures and images posted in the forums, should be work-place friendly. While we reserve the right to remove any photo we feel is inappropriate, here are some partial guidelines as to what is not acceptable:

- no nudity

- no underwear, thongs, g-strings, or banana hammocks

- no pants or shorts worn mid-hip or below (no saggers)

- no photos in which hands or objects are the only bodily covering

- no excessive cleavage (if you would wear it to work, it’s probably OK)

- no close-up shots of cleavage, butt, breasts or crotch in any state of dress

- no hateful or violent imagery

- no images containing profanity or vulgarity

If you are photographing yourself to demonstrate successful weight loss, tight fitting spandex is a great way to show the change in your shape, while still abiding by these guidelines. Photos altered to present inaccurate weight-loss results are prohibited. Please keep the experience at MyFitnessPal encouraging by keeping your "success" photos authentic.

13. Violation of These Guidelines May Lead to Disciplinary Action

We reserve the right to delete or lock posts and topics, to disable the posting privileges of any member, or to deny anyone use of our site at anytime, for any reason, at our discretion without warning or notice. Conversely, we reserve the right to dismiss a reported post if we find it does not violate a guideline.

Additional Guidelines for the Main Forums

14. No Advertising, Self-Promotion, or Fund-Raising

a) You may not post any links or mentions of other services, websites, or businesses from which you or an associate might benefit financially or otherwise. This includes, but is not limited to; posts that contain links to offsite blog posts and social media. You also may not solicit off-Forum contact from which you might benefit, e.g. "message me for more info", “I can get you free samples”, etc.

b) Requests or solicitations for donations are also not allowed. This includes requesting contributions to “pooled fund” competitions, requests for votes in any venue (online contests, etc.), and even requests for charitable contributions. As you can imagine, we have a lot of people who would like to raise money for worthy causes through the site. As much as we'd like to support these causes, if we were to allow requests for donations, the forums would quickly become full of such requests which would take away from the main purpose of the forums - to support one another.

c) Posts or messages to members promoting websites that compete with MyFitnessPal are also prohibited.

15. Divisive Topics Are Better Suited For Groups, Not the Main Forums

Divisive topics and posts, particularly those that seek input from or are
relevant only to a select group of users, are better placed within an
appropriate Group rather than the Main Forums. For example, topics
relevant to only one religion should not be placed on the main forums
but rather within a group related to that religion.

16. No Political Topics in the Main Forums

Political content is not allowed on the Main Forums. This includes images. Please form or join a Group if you would like to engage in political debate on MyFitnessPal.

17. No Profane, Vulgar, or Sexually Explicit Language

No explicit, sexual, insulting or vulgar content including expletives, or sexual innuendo, will be permitted. This includes the use of non-alphabetical characters to approximate expletives or other objectionable language. Publicly visible text on MyFitnessPal should be work-place friendly.

We reserve the right to moderate a topic or post based on the intent of the sexual material it contains. Posts intended to titillate will be removed. Posts with medical or clinical themes related to sex or sexual health may be permitted, at our discretion.

18. Please Post In English On The Main Forums

Moderators in the English forums speak English. Because we need to ensure that our moderator team can properly understand and evaluate all posts, we request that all posts on the Main Forums are made in English. If you wish to post in a different language, we encourage you to join a language-specific group.

19. Warnings and Point System for Reported Posts

Notice = 0 Warning Points: This type of warning is used to let a member know they have violated a guideline and request they review our guidelines to avoid future warnings. This type of warning is appropriate for new members and for notifying members of posts removed that don’t warrant disciplinary action.

Minor Warning = 2 Warning Points: This type of warning is to let a member know they have violated a guideline and have received 2 points. Minor warnings remain in place for 1 week. This type of warning is appropriate for members who have received previous notifications to review our guidelines.

Major Warning = 3 Warning Points: This type of warning is to let a member know they have significantly violated a guideline and have received 3 points. Examples include hate speech, blatant personal attacks, or posting images containing nudity. This also includes repeated violations of minor warnings. Major warnings remain in place for 2 weeks.

Banning = 5 Warning Points: A member who accumulates a total of 5 active points will be banned and permanently lose posting privileges.

Group-Specific Guidelines

20. Groups Can Establish Additional Group-Specific Guidelines

Group Administrators may establish additional guidelines for their Groups as long as they do not interfere with MyFitnessPal’s sitewide guidelines. Members of the group must adhere to these group-specific rules.

21. Group Moderators Must Uphold Site-wide Guidelines

All group moderators are required to uphold the MyFitnessPal site-wide guidelines to the best of their abilities. Failure to do so will result in the loss of their moderator privileges and possibly the shutdown of the group.

22. Do Not Troll or Harass Groups

There will be groups with opinions that you do not agree with. Do not use groups as a way to harass or insult others.

23. No Mass Invites or Invite Spamming

While we certainly encourage group founders to invite members to join their groups, excessively spamming invites is not permitted and will result in the deletion of the group. Please invite members to your group in moderation.

24. Groups That Allow Mature Content Must Be Marked Mature

If your group decides that it will allow mature content, it must be flagged as a private group. Failure to do so could result in the deletion of the group. Please note that even groups marked as private must still adhere to our site-wide guidelines.